A malicious god-figure living in a labyrinth filled with deathtraps coupled with PCs who like staying alive. It's a wonder they ever get anything done.

Chumsley's Heroes

Chumsley’s Heroes was a band of adventurers who existed – shortly – during the Ninth Kingdom, around the late 1480’s-early 1490’s. They were named as such after Bert Chumsley, a party member, died in battle.

They cleared out area infested with beasts near Tuma, but not without loss: Bert Chumsley was slain. He was buried at the there and the group named themselves Chumsley’s Heroes in his memory. As they buried him, another druid, Calybryt, wandered into the grieving group, saying that he “sensed a disturbance in nature.” He performed funeral rights for poor Bert and joined the party.

The party met up with a courier, Jonas, delivering a package to Kalimaar. The party became his escort and they were attacked by brigands. Jonas was slain, but the party vowed to complete his task.

1489: Chumsley’s Heroes reached Kalimaar with Jonas’s parcel, which turned out to be one of the Eyes of Kalim. While in the city, Calybryt visited the druid grove and met a number of colorful people, including a now-legendary water druid Fishfood. Anyway, the party didn’t do their research and thought that the Eye was a weapon that would be used against them or others. Calybryt constantly muttered about its unnatural properties. The party decided to keep it hidden for the time being until they figured out what it was, and while doing so, uncovered undead wererats under the city that were part of a coup against the city. They stopped these creatures the best as they could. Also, it turned out that Eye was part of a series of relics used for the magical defense of the city. The leader of the Wizards Guild explained this to them and it happened that he was the half-elf’s father and not too bad of a fellow.

The party was waylaid in Carm, which was overrun by brigands. They made quick work of said brigands and their egos grew…perhaps too much.

1490: Chumsley’s Heroes came across an elf druid being attacked by a hydra in Carm Forest and aided him. They went into Carm Forest and met a traveling salesman who sold them a variety of items; most notably, gnomish healing and infravision “potions” and a stone that would turn the bearer into a tiger (an idea which intrigued Calybryt). Then they discovered Cursestone of Kalim. Somehow, and nobody who cares knows how, Chumsley’s Heroes were able to break the curse. However, in the process, Eggar was slain and went on to become the only member of the party to garner any significant amount of fame or infamy.

The party returned back Kalimaar and met a representative of the Gerbod Gnomish Alchemists. They traveled to Gerbod and were commissioned to clear out the ruins of Crumblesbrook.

When the party reached Crumblesbrook, they abandoned any sense of stealth and tried to call out the orcs, hobgoblins, trolls, and other creatures inside. It didn’t work. When night fell, the evil creatures marched on Chumsley’s Heroes, who were patiently waiting outside for this event to happen. They weren’t prepared for such numbers, however, and nearly the entire party was killed. The only survivors were Gwinny and Calybryt (who used the stone to turn into a tiger – only to realize that it turned him into a baby tiger and unable to change back until the effect wore off on its own). They hid between rocks, unable to do anything while the party was slaughtered. The evil creatures went back into Crumblesbrook and Tiger-Calybryt and Gwinny scampered off to safety.